Australia Uncovered on SBS returns for a bold new season – Award-winning documentary collection Australia Uncovered returns to SBS and SBS On Demandfrom Sunday 24 May, with three compelling stand-alone films that reveal remarkable Australian stories and offer fresh perspectives on the issues shaping the nation today.
John Safran’s incendiary new documentary, Shut Your Big Fat Mouth John Safran!, sees the author, documentarian and satirist undertake an unflinching exploration into how Australia responds to speech and ideas it finds offensive. Bringing his trademark wit and unpredictability to this fiercely contested debate, John wades into the national conversation that is raging between those who think free speech shouldn’t be unduly restricted in a democracy, and those who argue offensive speech and ideas should be regulated to protect the vulnerable.
In The Hunt for the Last Nazis, award-winning writer, producer and director Dan Goldberg investigates the story behind the alleged Nazi war criminals who immigrated to Australia after World War II and managed to evade justice. With exclusive access to rare and never-seen-before classified government files and video and audio recordings, the documentary reveals how hundreds, if not thousands, of alleged Nazi war criminals were able to hide in Australia. Decades later, the government launched a belated attempt to bring them to justice.
We Are Jeni reveals the story behind one of the most extraordinary criminal cases in Australian history. Dr Jeni Haynes developed more than 2,500 distinct personalities as a means of surviving severe childhood trauma. In a world-first legal precedent, her alter personalities (alters) were permitted to give evidence in court. Once dismissed as fractured, Jeni’s mind is now recognised as the very mechanism that preserved crucial evidence. This is the powerful story of how she, and her army of alters, were finally heard.
SBS Head of Unscripted Joseph Maxwell said:
“SBS is delighted to return with another exceptional season of Australia Uncovered. Created by some of Australia’s leading filmmakers, this strand of three single documentaries delves into diverse, emotional and life-changing stories that will resonate with and captivate viewers.”
Screen Australia Head of Documentary Richard Huddleston said:
“Australia Uncovered brings together fearless filmmakers to tell compelling stories that explore hard truths, challenge assumptions and illuminate extraordinary lives. These documentaries will move and surprise audiences, grow understanding of complex issues while celebrating the strength and resilience of the human spirit.”
Shut Your Big Fat Mouth John Safran! – Premieres Sunday 24 May at 7:30pm on SBS and
SBS On Demand
Recent polling suggests Australians are split into two opposing camps on the question of offence: one half think free speech is a right that should not be unduly restricted in a democracy, and the other half believe you can go too far and that offensive speech and ideas should be regulated and those who argue offensive speech and ideas should be regulated to protect the vulnerable.
Australian satirist John Safran has made a career out of being offensive. But in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, as politicians push for new laws limiting offensive speech, John is genuinely conflicted about the value of offence and how we create a more inclusive society without over-regulating speech or harshly condemning people for what they say.
In an effort to explore how Australia navigates issues of offence in 2026, John seeks out a diverse range of Australians who have been accused of going too far, including sex worker, porn creator and brand ambassador Blue-Eyed Kayla Jade, a Nazi with political ambitions, and an exorcist in a tangle with the law.
Shut Your Big Fat Mouth John Safran! asks if everyone should be free to say and believe what they want in a robust multicultural society, or if it’s time for merchants of offence, like John himself, to shut their big fat mouths.
John Safran said:
“Australia is vibrating with anxiety over what we can and cannot say. When is free speech so dangerous it should get you prison time? With a history of going too far myself, I’m just the guy to poke at every bees’ nest and step on every landmine in this debate.”
Shut Your Big Fat Mouth John Safran! is a Chemical Media production for SBS. Principle production funding from Screen Australia, in association with SBS. Financed in association with VicScreen.
[i] h<ps://www.cis.org.au/publica;on/free-to-speak-and-free-to-believe-what-australians-think-about-freedomof-speech/
The Hunt for the Last Nazis – Premieres Sunday 31 May at 7:30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand
The Hunt for the Last Nazis investigates how hundreds, if not thousands, of alleged Nazi war criminals were able to immigrate to Australia after World War II and remain in hiding until the government launched a belated attempt to bring them to justice in the 1980s.
In 1961, Australia became the first country on Earth to offer an amnesty to Nazi war criminals. Bob Hawke reversed the decision in 1987, setting up a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to track down and prosecute 841 Nazi suspects, including the three suspects the documentary focuses on: Ivan Polyukhovich, the only case that went to trial; Konrads Kalejs, who spent his life on the run, using his Australian passport for protection; and Karlis Ozols, believed to be the highest-ranking alleged Nazi living in Australia.
The film draws on rare and never-seen-before video footage and audio tapes from the SIU as detectives race to salvage eye-witness testimony before it vanishes. Among the tapes is a recording of the exhumation of a mass grave in Soviet-occupied Ukraine, and audio recordings of Nazi collaborators admitting the guilt of men now living in Australia.
As the investigation intensifies, Dan follows the trail from Holocaust survivors in suburban Australia to aging eyewitnesses in remote European villages. Time becomes the greatest enemy. Paper records endure, voices fade, tapes deteriorate. With each discovery, the window for testing facts and pursuing accountability narrows.
Dan Goldberg, Creative Director, Mint Pictures, said:
“This documentary began with a question that’s both confronting and deeply Australian: how did so many alleged Nazi war criminals manage to settle here after World War II and live out their lives largely undisturbed? What fascinated me was the race against time: detectives chasing fading memories, fragile tapes and reluctant witnesses across continents. Through rare recordings and extraordinary testimony, the film explores the tension between justice, history and the uncomfortable truth that some of these stories unfolded in our own suburbs.”
The Hunt for the Last Nazis is a Mint Pictures production for SBS. Principal production funding from Screen Australia and SBS. Financed with support from Screen NSW.
We Are Jeni – Premieres Sunday 7 June at 7:30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand
Dr Jeni Haynes remembers everything. But not in the way most people do. Jeni has dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder). Memories of the severe childhood trauma she endured are scattered across over 2,500 alter personalities (alters) – a remarkable system her mind built to survive. In an incredible world-first, when the time came to seek justice against her father, the man responsible her trauma, Jeni’s alters would be crucial to the criminal case.
Together with Jeni, Detective Paul Stamoulis, an experienced investigator who took on Jeni’s case and spent years navigating the legal labyrinth to extradite her father back to Australia to stand trial, and psychiatrist Dr. George Blair-West built a case arguing that Jeni’s condition wasn’t a barrier to truth, but rather a mechanism that preserved it. Her alters held memories with photographic clarity, remembering what happened decades ago as if it was yesterday.
In a world-first legal precedent, Jeni’s alters are allowed to testify in a trial. Jeni’s mind, once dismissed as fractured, is recognised as the very structure that preserved the evidence. A story of triumph against extreme odds, and about the power of the human mind to protect and survive, We Are Jeni reveals how Dr Jeni Haynes, and her army of alters, were finally heard.
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Dr Jeni Hayes said:
“Our whole life we had been told that our story would never be believed, and that everyone would think we were crazy. When we waived our right to anonymity at Dad’s trial in 2019, we were terrified we were setting ourselves up for disbelief, scorn, and ridicule. We never imagined our MPD/DID would become the story. We realised our discomfort was all worth it if sharing our story helped other survivors.”
We Are Jeni is a Smith&Nasht and Arrow Media production for SBS. Principal production funding from Screen Australia, in association with Screen NSW and SBS. Financed with support from the Shark Island Institute.
Shut Your Big Fat Mouth John Safran!, The Hunt for the Last Nazis and We Are Jeni will beavailable to stream on SBS On Demandwith subtitles in Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
Australia Uncovered Season 4 premieres with Shut Your Big Fat Mouth John Safran! on Sunday 24 May at 7:30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand.The three-part collection continues weekly on Sundays.
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Australia Uncovered on SBS returns for a bold new season
